EXCLUSIVE: Revealed... how Brazil legend Roberto Carlos came close to signing for Birmingham

Roberto Carlos is one of the greatest left backs of all-time
- and he almost signed for Birmingham.

The Brazil legend has revealed he nearly joined Barry Fry at St
Andrew's in 1995 after he scored his first ever international goal at Goodison
Park in the 3-0 Umbro Cup win over Japan.

'It was a beautiful goal,' said the 2002 World Cup winner.

Scroll down to watch the full interview with Roberto Carlos

Shock switch scuppered: Roberto Carlos reveals he how came close to joining Birmingham back in 1995

Admission: Carlos admitted the deal broke down as his club at the time wanted too much money for him

Memories: Carlos scored his first goal for Brazil at Goodison Park against Japan in the Umbro Cup in 1995

'It had speed as usual and swerve. That was when my career
with the national side began.

'And this tournament was significant because at the time I
had an offer from an English club - Birmingham. I remember it to this day.

'But it didn't work out because Uniao Sao Joao were asking
for too much money'.

In the summer of 1995 Birmingham had just been promoted from Division Two (now League One) to Division One (now the Championship).

Bryan Robson at Middlesbrough was also keen but Carlos
eventually ended up in Europe with Inter Milan when he played under England
boss Roy Hodgson at the Guiseppe Meazza.

The former Real Madrid galactico, 40, is now in charge of
Turkish side Sivasspor after missing the chance to play in England.

And he believes there's a reason why more of his compatriots
haven't played in the Premier League.

'Now we have Ramirez, David Luiz, Lucas Leiva, Willian and
Oscar,' said Carlos, scorer of arguably the best free-kick in history when he swerved the ball beyond Fabien Barthez against France at Le Tournoi in 1997.

'But it could be because we are not very responsible when we
don't have the ball.

What might have been: Carlos could have joined Barry Fry's Birmingham side, who are pictured here celebrating their 1995 Auto Windscreens Shield success over Carlisle United at Wembley

English connection: Roberto Carlos played with David Beckham and Michael Owen (right) at Real Madrid

Inspired by his famous free-kick against France, Umbro has teamed up with Roberto Carlos to find the greatest ‘golaços’ in the world. Capture your great goal, share it via Umbro’s app, and Roberto will select five winners to join him in Brazil to learn how to play the Samba way. The Umbro Golaço app is available from the App Store and Google Play store www.umbrogolaco.com